Repeat Exhibit

Repeat Exhibit

>> I'm not ENTIRELY sure why when this original retrospective of Hussein Chalayan's work from 1994-2009 at London's Design Museum was never blogged about here. I'm scratching my head even more seeing as the exhibition was also media-partnered by Dazed & Confused, where I was working at the time. Was I somehow put off by the mountains of positive praise the exhibition got and thus didn't think me and my blog chirping in was going to add anything useful or insightful?

As I ponder what happened to my responsible posting antics during the period of January and May 2009, I'm instead going to be INCREDIBLY belated by posting these pics that I took at the Istanbul Modern where the exhibition is currently touring and has also been updated with additions of some of his 2010 collections. I guess I still have nothing interesting to say about the exhibition in 2010 as my muted self in 2009, other than to echo what everyone else has said. What I will say though is that given the bigger space of the Istanbul Modern, Donna Loveday's curation of the exhibition seems even more effective, especially when it comes to the video projections of Chalayan's various film projects that he has accumulated throughout the years. The choice of mannequins that have an almost-eerie expression and liveliness to their faces all bring the extraordinary clothes to life as opposed to the alternative of the normal headless dummies that could have made Chalayan's creations look cold and sterile. And oh dear… here we go… review mode… this is of course NOT new for those that did make it to the Design Museum but somehow, reliving it the second time in the hustle of Istanbul, a ground closer to Chalyan's Turkish-Cypriot roots, enhanced the overall impact of the exhibition. Plus, this is blogpost atonement here.

Ah I just remembered…. I had a duff SD card that deleted my pics of the exhibition… DOUBLE DOH!

Blindscape S/S 05

Inertia S/S 09

Ambimorphous A/W 02

Airmail Dress 1999

Panoramic A/W 1998

Manifest Destiny S/S 03

Place to Passage 2003

After Words A/W 2000

Kinship Journeys A/W 03

Temporal Meditations S/S 04

Airborne A/W 07

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21 comments

Chalayan’s work is really amazing and, in my opinion, he is one of the very few true innovators in design. I watched a show where the clothing morphed into a different piece and as sci-fi as it may seem the piece still looked wearable. Anywho I really like the mannequins used in the pics, they definitely add to the overall aesthetic.
NaughtyBaubles
NaughtyBaubles on Etsy

I don’t really like the faces, but i love the installations.
I revere Chalayan so much! He puts so much thought into his works… I think we don’t even understand all of what he’s saying with his clothes. That Ambimorphous (now I know it had a name, too) collection was a favourite of mine!
xo
Agnes
(I’d be happy if you came and visited my blog at http://iiiinspired.blogspot.com/ )

I saw this when it was at the Design museum, it was pretty amazing and quite the show. The mannequins are a little creepy but I think it really adds to the clothes like you said. Chalayan never does things by halves, so why should the mannequins be left out? I couldn’t get a great picture of the LED dress with my shoddy camera, but it looks great here!

Hussein Chalayan is such a visionary! His works always speaks volumes about what is happening in the world today and what he is thinking about. I really like the mannequins with their eyes closed, looking so at peace with the surroundings and the installation with the mannequins painting the wall, but getting darker and darker, as though they are stained in the process.